Tainted White
by Nitrospira
Summary: The Western Lord has his suspicions regarding a certain human serving within his castle, one who is known for periodically disappearing to her enigmatic 'village'. What he discovers about her, however, is both bizarre and wickedly promising...


**Tainted White:: Ch.1: A Strange Creation**

Once again, the Western Lord caught himself in an act of utter dishonor.

He had been watching as rays of light scattered on the silken tendrils of his young servant's auburn hair. Logically, it was _her_ fault for straying from her quarters so regularly that he had unintentionally memorized the places she liked to frequent during these little wanderings…

This window, he recalled with reserved disdain, was by far her favorite. From her position behind the glassless aperture she would watch the hues dusk fade into the gleaming ebony of night before leaving to her village for the subsequent two days, returning afterwards for five more, then leaving again for the same allotted time.

With the grim notion that this pastime would bring about unflattering consequences, he began to step back into the comforting shadows of his castle, which is exactly when the previously serene face of the servant turned to him in horror.

"L-Lord Sesshoumaru!" she squeaked, electric blue eyes registering only the utmost repentance as she slid herself from the sill. Not without a stab of regret, he noticed how stunningly her kimono matched with the color of her eyes, save for three red stripes on each of the billowing sleeves, marking her as a servant of the Western Lord and otherwise identifying her among the other human wastrels residing upon his land.

Why she bothered bowing to him was beyond him; it was done so horribly choppy. "Are you needing of anything?"

Deciding that he would prove her worthlessness to himself, Sesshoumaru did not answer. Turning heel, he left the human girl staring dumbfounded at his back, an expression that quickly changed into one of sheer surprise when he abruptly halted and asked, "A name, human?"

"Arisu." Her voice was unusually firm, he noted. Was possible that she was unique among the simpering girls that he had thus far collected as servants?

A unique human… it struck him as an oxymoron.

"Hm." Sesshoumaru, now resolute in his desire to depart, continued to stride in the direction opposite of this strange creation.

Arisu watched him leave with anticipation etched onto her pallid face. When the taiyoukai was far from her sight, she gingerly crept through the window and dropped to the ground two stories below.

With a smile that embellished the unwanted fatigue of the day's chores, she began to walk across the clearing towards a conifer forest. Almost at the rim of this assemblage of trees was a vine-covered well as inconspicuous as any other in the feudal era.

After tugging of numerous strings, Arisu shrugged off the top layer of her kimono, revealing a sleeveless black top and jean shorts

"Free at last." She breathed, having only enough decency to fold her discarded clothing before wedging into a hole in a tree trunk. Next she stripped her wooden sandals, which received treatment befitting monstrosities as uncomfortable as they were, and replaced them with flip-flops she produced from the same opening.

Climbing deftly onto the stone well, she stared down at her painted toes with sudden interest. "Coral red is definitely not my color." She said with chagrin.

"I concur." Agreed a voice dripping of nobility, the sound of which caused Arisu to topple over. Preceding a sweet gush of adrenaline, she spun herself around so that her face was skyward and then spread out her limps to impede her from falling into the empty blackness of the well.

_Oh my_… was all her mind could process as a certain taiyoukai approached her, ignoring the uncomfortable pose he had frightened her into assuming.

Though she had only vague impressions of her Lord's personality, she saw that his face was rigid and blank, which she found to be his most congenial facial expression. She immediately sensed that he was not intending to deliver her to a premature demise.

Not yet, that is… she knew her Lord better than _that_.

"To what do I owe this, Lord Sesshou – "

"Enter the well." He ordered curtly. She paled at this command, her body stiffening in subconscious opposition.

"I'll instruct you again, human." Sesshoumaru leered, his voice sharpening to a blade. "Enter this well."

"But… I… can't…" she petitioned uselessly, earning death in the form of a glare.

There was no escaping it; she knew with underlying certainty that she had made a fatal error. As the taiyoukai moved toward her, she prepared herself to be sliced into the useless meat he perceived her as… instead, a smooth and deadly hand lifted her into the air by her bare ankle.

Overwhelmed at the fact that she may have become the first human to disobey the Western Lord and draw more than a single breath afterwards, she hung shock-still in his grasp.

Sesshoumaru, perched on the wall of the well, held the human girl dispassionately over the circular chasm. Ignoring the fact that her shirt was slowly riding up her body from gravity, Arisu wondered momentarily if his intention was to have her die of blood pooling in her head before he suddenly released her.

"Eep!" she squealed as her body vanished in a flash of vivid green light.

Sesshoumaru observed this phenomena with a coldness that had become sacred to him. His lips curved, ever so slightly, into the veneer of a smile. Curiosity, however weak it showed in his eyes, was of incredible influence in his typically keen, calculating mind.

Without haste, he nonchalantly pursued the girl through the well.


End file.
